A/HRC/42/CRP.1
confrontations in Hajjah. He was reportedly placed in detention in Sana’a, and separated
from his cellmates a week prior to his death. The group did not confirm the cause of his
death by the time of finalization of this report. In these cases as in others documented
elsewhere by the Group of Experts, the bodies of the deceased had not been returned to
their families by the time this report was being finalized. In some cases, whether in Hajjah
or other parts of Yemen, families alleged that men working in the detention facilities run by
the de facto authorities had required families to pay money in return for information about
their relatives.764
474. The various reports received and cases of arbitrary detention, enforced
disappearance and allegations of torture investigated by the Group of Experts in relation to
Hajour, if confirmed, point towards a concerning pattern of targeting of members of certain
tribes and families from the Hajour area, because of their perceived opposition to or lack of
support of the Houthis. The Group received allegations of the targeting of one entire family,
including its women. These allegations could not be confirmed due to limitations of time
and access. Evidence gathered and reviewed by the Group raises concerns over the
existence of patterns of arresting and detaining men from the Hajouri tribes during and
following the conflict in the area. These cases require further examination.
Violations
475. Enforced disappearance is prohibited by international human rights law and
international humanitarian law, notably as a violation of the prohibition of arbitrary
deprivation of liberty and possibly of the prohibition of torture. 765 International human
rights law and international humanitarian law also prohibit arbitrary detention.766
Considered as arbitrary are deprivations of liberty that are contrary to international law
provisions, such as those relating to the right to a fair trial or other procedural guarantees,
or to unlawful restrictions to the exercise of fundamental freedoms. 767 Depriving a person
of the right to a fair trial may be considered a war crime in a non-international conflict.768
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are also strictly prohibited under
both international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and may lead to
individual criminal responsibility for war crimes. 769
476. The Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the de facto authorities
violated the right to liberty and security of person, namely through enforced
disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, including the violation of fair trial rights, in
Hajjah, notably of individuals based on their tribal affiliation. This may lead to individual
criminal responsibility for the war crime of denial of fair trial. There are also concerns
about cases of torture and ill-treatment. If these allegations are proven, this may lead to
criminal responsibility for the war crimes of torture and cruel or inhuman treatment.
764
Confidential Sources on File.
Article 9 ICCPR and Art 1 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance (CED); see ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 98.
766 Article 9 and 14 ICCPR; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and Art. 4 Additional
Protocol II; See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 99.
767 ICCPR, articles 9 and 14; see also Human Rights Committee general comment No. 35 (2011) on
liberty and security of person; and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any
Form of Detention or Imprisonment (A/RES/43/173); The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has
identified five legal categories relating to arbitrary detention: (a) when there is no legal basis for the
deprivation of liberty, (b) when the deprivation of liberty results from the exercise of fundamental
freedoms, (c) when the violations of norms relating to the right to a fair trial are of such gravity as to
give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character, (d) when migrants are subjected to prolonged
administrative custody without the possibility of administrative or judicial review or remedy, and (e)
when the deprivation of liberty reflects discrimination, notably based on birth, national, ethnic or
social origin, language, religion and political or other opinion (see Methods of work of the Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention, A/HRC/36/38).
768 See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 100.
769 Article 7 ICCPR, See Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions, art. 4 Additional Protocol II,
See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 90.
765
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